I got up a bit early to make a hurried breakfast (not too successful,
as I didn't cook the eggs enough for Lilli but too much for Swisher,
plus I had skimped on the butter) and have a last chat with Ian and
Jacquie before taking off by 1030 in order to make the 1700 deadline
for returning the car.

A long trip back that had a bad start when the GPS told us to go a
weird way to the A20, which didn't become apparent until it said to
turn right into the side of a building, no street in sight. Ian's
way, heading apprently wrong but correcting on the A89, would have
worked better, as would I suspect going through Clermont-Ferrand,
which we hadn't adequately researched. Anyhow, we endured two hourlong
traffic jams and ended up half an hour late; luckily at the car rental
return the agent didn't give us any guff; I believe the overstay was
forgiven; anyway we will find out when the final bill comes.

We were soon on our way to our respective hotels; Swisher crapped out
and went straight to the Novotel despite my pointing out that beer was
free at our hotel happy hour, which lasted until 8, so we had over an
hour to enjoy it.

The Hilton executive lounge served some ordinary Provencal red that
would have been considered okay but for what we'd been feasting on for
a week. Snacks included carpaccio, prosciutto, and a rather bizarre
chicken pizza. After a few glasses and a vain attempt to get enough nourishment, we went next door to the Skylight restaurant. There Lilli
got a Hilton burger, which was really, really good, and a glass of
Belleruche Cotes du Rhone, which was pretty, pretty good. It cost a
whole bunch more than free, though.

I just asked for the foie gras appetizer and a glass of Trianon de
Filhot, which was enough for a meal, three one-ounce slices from a
torchon and a surprisingly nice and fairly complex Sauternes with some Botrytis bitterness (a lot, actually), strong apricotty pineapply
sweetness, and a long Botrytized finish.

Our room was a bigger ordinary room; our upgrade was a view
of the runway. Luckily the soundproofing here was good.

==
Breakfast offerings were generous by US standards, skimpy by
European ones. I had a bowl of grapefruit segments with a glass of
grapefruit juice, a couple of those greasy, gristly sausages with
skin ground in, which I like, and limp bacon, which I don't mind.
Decent pain de chocolat and substandard hot chocolate.

We were both still a bit under the weather, so we decided not to
take either a bus or a train to some adventure destination, instead
lazing in the room a long time before going around Roissypole looking
at all the hotel restaurant cartes, the two local places Lilli
remembered either being closed on Sunday or closed altogether.

We retreated back to the lounge, and guess what can be worse than
chicken pizza? you guessed right - zucchini pizza. So after knocking
down a glass of red, we went across the way to the Novotel, whose
restaurant menu has the virtue of being different from the Hilton's
and a bit cheaper too. Lilli, always ready to take a chance, got the
burger de boeuf Limousin, Cheddar et bacon et sa salade with puree
de pomme de terre au beurre de baratt. You get what you pay for -
the burger was E4 cheaper and I figure half as good as at the Hilton;
it was a frozen preformed 6-oz patty cooked from frozen, and whatever
virtue Limousin beef has was undetectable. Beurre de baratte is the
butter equivalent of sour cream and made the mash okay.

ChinonÿLes Terroirs Rabelaisiens 2017 (Loire) was a somewhat stemmy
and black peppery but otherwise ordinary local Pinot Noir.

I got ribs de boeuf caramelises, sauce signature - the ribs were a
real short rib and its chuck cap, so that was good. The 6-ish-oz
piece was sous-vided and then browned in not enough fat, so the
texture on the browned side was peculiar. It was strangely
underseasoned; I guess that job was supposed to be taken by the
signature sauce made by Kraft or worse on the side, about which
one can only say thank goodness it was on the side.

Should have stayed with a good thing, Plus I get points for
eating at the Hilton.
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